- Three nights after his meeting with Mamie, Strether hangs out with the artist Bilham at Madame de Vionnet's place. They're at another one of her swanky parties.
- Strether is feeling ashamed of himself again. He's in one of his depressed modes where hanging with Bilham makes him realize how much wiser Bilham is than Strether was at his age. And again, Strether despairs at having wasted his youth.
- Strether dives into conversation with Bilham by asking what the young man thinks of Sarah Pocock. More specifically, Strether wants to know what Bilham thinks Sarah's attitude toward Chad is.
- Bilham insists that Sarah Pocock envies the changes that have happened in Chad. Which is news to Strether, who thought she was pretty anti-everything.
- The only thing is that she wants Chad to bring his new-and-improved self back to Woollett so they can enjoy him back there instead of in Paris. It's because Chad's so improved that Sarah will not rest until he's home. According to Bilham, Sarah can't bear the idea that Chad's charm would be wasted on people like them.
- Bilham adds that he's not saying the people in Woollett aren't great. In fact, they're every bit as good as the people in Paris (we wonder if he has a specific Woollet-ite in mind). It's just that Woollett doesn't have the rich cultural history and heritage that makes Paris so fab.
- Strether adds that he thinks Chad's situation would be a lot better if the guy got married. Bilham asks if he's talking about Mamie Pocock, but Strether says he's actually talking about Madame de Vionnet—you know, if her husband dies.
- Strether says he also thinks it's his duty to find Bilham a wife, too. This totally floors the young artist, who has no clue who Strether might have in mind. Besides, Strether suggested earlier in the book that Bilham should marry Jeanne, which was a total pipe dream.
- Strether admits that Jeanne was a crazy idea. But now he thinks Bilham should marry Mamie Pocock. Bilham wants to know where he got this idea, and Strether said he knows Mamie was waiting for him longingly on her balcony the other day which makes it pretty clear that she's in love with him. What a gossip.
- Bilham asks whether Mamie might be in love with Chad, but Strether assures that Mamie, in fact, probably hates Chad. Mamie wanted to be the girl to "save" him for the dirtiness of Paris; but now that she has seen how awesome he is, she realizes that she's too late. Another woman has already saved him, so she's pretty much been kicked to the curb.
- Bilham gets up to circulate around the party, and just as he leaves, Miss Barrace comes over and sits down in Bilham's place. They joke a little bit about Maria Gostrey not being at the party because she's waiting up for Strether back at home…Yeah, it's kinda shocking as far as 1903 jokes go.
- Strether gloats a little bit about the fact that Sarah Pocock is at the party, too, and that there's absolutely nothing that she could object to. In Strether's words, Sarah is bricked up and buried alive. She's trapped on the chessboard with no more moves left to make.
- Miss Barrace reminds him that Sarah still has enough room to breathe, and this might be all she needs. Barrace, for example, has met Sarah and has been received coldly. So the battle doesn't seem to be over just yet. It's just using weirder metaphors.
- Miss Barrace tells Strether that she feels like everyone at the party is in the middle of an epic drama and that Strether is the hero of the story. Wow, it's almost as if she's read a book called The Ambassadors by Henry James.
- Strether admits the he might be too much of a scaredy cat to be the hero.
- Miss Barrace finally comes out and says, "No matter what, don't let Chad go back to America." After all, it's his duty as a hero.
- The two of them reflect of Sarah being at the party, and Miss Barrace comments on how Jim Pocock has already decided to fight on the side of the Paris crowd. Basically, he's like a spy that Madame de Vionnet has been able to turn to her side. But you can only imagine how furious Sarah Pocock must be if she knows this. The drama continues.